Displaying and Storing Quilts

What do you do with all of your finished quilts? 

Here on Main Street, I have them in the usual places.  One on every bed, plus a few more for each bed so they can rotate.

Smaller quilts folded on the backs of chairs, or tossed "casually."  I have a seasonal rotation for these throw size quilts.

I hung two curtain poles on the wall on our second floor landing and use them to hang folded quilts.

I change the assortment here as part of my Christmas decorating.

And I have a quilt holder on the wall in the kitchen.  I got this wooden holder at a quilt show years ago, it is 42" wide, great for a rotating display of smaller quilts.  

And I have a couple of quilts hanging in my sewing room.  The Spools quilt is hanging from a dowel rod ...

...while Say Yes To The Dress is hung from a curtain rod using clip-on curtain rings.  

 But even with all these quilts on display, I have many more folded and stored away.  So when I saw this basket in Target, I thought it would be great for holding a few rolled up quilts.  I like the look and it holds quite a lot.  I've got three quilts in it (one is twin size and two are large throws) and could squeeze in one more.   

 If you would like to do something similar, the information on the basket from Target is here.  Target doesn't ship this basket, you have to get it in-store, but I saw a similar one at West Elm and they do ship.  That info is here.

Hexie Flowers and Succession

A couple of months ago, I wrote about my new portable sewing project, hexagon flowers for a Flowers for Emma quilt.  You can read about here if you need a refresher. 

Then I started watching Succession on HBO.  I somehow missed this show last year when the first season aired but saw a lot of publicity in advance of Season 2 and a few people whose taste coincides well with  mine recommended it so I decided to give it a try.  (Just an aside but I long resisted subscribing to anything that would add to our already outrageous cable bill but three years ago, Miss Main Street had to watch The Wire for a college class and the easiest way was for us to add HBO to our cable package so she would watch it at college online using HBO Go.  The class is long over but Mr. Main Street got hooked on some shows and doesn't want to give it up.) 

I thought the first episode dragged a little (heavily focused on introducing the characters, none of them likable) but stuck with it, and I was hooked by the third episode.  It is very well written, acted, and filmed.  The characters are mostly despicable, though I admit to some sympathy for Kendall.   By the way, nothing was left to chance in this show and I am certain the selection of that painting behind Brian Cox in the photo above was deliberate. 

So while the Roy family was entertaining me, I worked on my hexie flowers for Flowers for Emma. 

This is what I had to show at the end of Season 1.  More have been added to the pile during Season 2.  And I'm looking for a new show - Miss Main Street has given me a long list - Peaky Blinders?  Derry Girls?  Hanna?  Something to tide me over until The Crown Season 3 comes out. 

The hexie flowers are very scrappy in the original Flowers for Emma pattern.  I'm making mine less scrappy but using the leftovers from my Fig Tree Harvest projects and augmented with my Chantilly fat quarter stack win.   There is still plenty of the Chantilly stack for another project. 

The pattern as written calls for 35 hexie flowers.  I am considering going bigger which will mean more flowers.  Either way, I need to applique some of the flowers to the background so I can remove the papers and reuse them.  So there will definitely be more TV in my future. 

Pottery Barn and Using Sheets For Quilt Backing

Can you believe Christmas is less than two months away?!!!  Too soon to start decorating but not too early to make your decorating plans.  And certainly not too early (and possibly too late if you sew like me) to start a new seasonal quilt.

I've been thinking of making a new Christmas quilt and those thoughts coincided with an email message from Pottery Barn covering their Christmas decor items.  They have some of the cutest sheets and bedding sets and they got me thinking about using a sheet as the backing for a quilt.  Have you ever used a sheet and if so, how did it work out?

Pottery Barn calls this one Nostalgic Santa.  I think the design could be great for a quilt back, especially for a two-color quilt in red and white or green and white. 

I also like this snowman print.

What about Forest Gnomes?   These three are 100% organic cotton. 

Winter Village is 100% organic cotton flannel.  Could be very cozy! 

One issue is that it would not be an inexpensive backing because Pottery Barn sells sets only, with fitted sheet and pillowcases included with the flat sheet.  I suppose you could use them on the bed.  We are old-fashionedly boring here on Main Street, with white sheets only on the beds so a printed fitted sheet would be an adjustment. 

Anyway, I am thinking of buying some of these when they go on sale (Pottery Barn is always having a sale) so any advice you have on use of sheets as quilt backing much appreciated.